Corey Taylor says he regrets calling iconic producer Rick Rubin “overrated” and “overpaid” – and he wants the chance to apologise.
In an strong-worded comment during a solo show in 2011, Taylor slammed Rubin’s contribution to Slipknot‘s 2004 album Vol.3 (The Subliminal Verses) and said the process had only been made possible by engineer Greg Fidelman.
Taylor reported at the time: “Rick Rubin shows up for 45 minutes a week. Rick Rubin would then lay on a couch and have a mic brought next to his face so he wouldn’t have to move. Then he’d be like, ‘Play it for me.’ And he had shades on the whole time.
“I respect what Rick Rubin has done. But the Rick Rubin of today is a thin shadow of the Rick Rubin that he was. He is overrated, he is overpaid, and I will never work with him again as long as I fucking live.”
But the vocalist has had a change of heart in the intervening years – he tells Apple Music: “I’m going to be honest. I think it was more on my end than it was on his.
“He works his way and he always has. I was not used to working that way. I was a young guy, freshly sober.
“Being a singer and being sober, ‘I need your attention, Rick! I need it!’ So that was me being young, unsure of myself, needing the guidance – which I got from Greg Fidelman.
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“All of Rick’s engineers are essentially his surrogates. You know that when you’re working with him.”
Describing himself as “an open wound that just needed to heal” at the time, Taylor adds: “I didn’t have anybody there to help me. So I blamed him a lot – in retrospect, probably more than I should have.
“I feel bad about it. Hopefully some day I’ll be able to make some amends with him.”
Rubin has drawn criticism from artists including ZZ Top, Slayer and Crosby, Stills And Nash – but Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top last year modified his approach to the producer, saying: “He really is sincere when he works with any artist. It can be challenging.
“I really think Rick is one of the rare individuals who’s willing to let the material develop and reach a logical zenith.”
